Samuel white ivhite



UTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL WHITE VHITE, OF CHARLTON MARSHALL, ENGLAND.

MODE OF MAKING HATS BUOYAN T, S0 THEY CAN BE USED AS LIFE-PRESERVERS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 1,8267 dated October 14, 1840.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, SAMUEL lVHrrn HITE, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and now residing at Charlton Marshall, in the county of Dorset, England, have invented or discovered. new and useful Improvements in Preventing Persons from Being Drowned and l, the said SAMUEL lVHIrn 1lVHrrn, do hereby declare the nature of my invention and the manner in which the saine is to be performed are fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the drawing` hereunto annexed and to the figures and letters marked thereon-that is to say7 My invention is for anaquatic life hat with the extension of the same principle to caps and bonnets or any other covering of the head to which it is applicable and consists in making it in the first instance waterproof and of any material or shape and in dividing as much of the upper portion of the hat from the under portion as to leave a sufficient depth to admit of its being worn on the head or by any other mode of contrivance whatsoever that will prevent the water from entering or filling the whole or any part of that upper portion.

The neXt part of the invention consists in rendering the lining of it subservient to its buoyancy by making it waterproof and very full and drawn together in the center leaving one or more apertures to admit the air either by inflation or otherwise that the lining when pulled may come freely out of the hat s0 that when the hat falls off the head (provided it is connected to a persons dress by a cord or ribbon and which it ought always to be) the lining becomes immediately inverted in the form of a bag and by grasping the neck or aperture of which and pulling the hat under water the person is powerfully supported without exertion and consequently prevented from drowning. Or the hat after being made waterproof may be varied in its construction so as to have the waterproof lining without dividing the hat into an upper and under portion or it may be made with the above division without the waterproof lining for in the two latter forms the hat would be suiiiciently buoyant to preserve life although it must be at once obvious that the first of the three modes is greatlylsuperior and scarcely admits of a comparison.

Description of the clmtoz'ng.-Figure l shows a hat in section with my improvements applied thereto a being the space between to the top 'of the head and crown of the hat and Z) the waterproof lining shown folded within the hat with the cord or ribbon c for drawing it out when required, attached thereto. Fig. 2 is also a section of a hat with the saine improvements applied thereto with the waterproof lining drawn out for use.

`What I claim as my invention isl. The making of hats caps and bonnets with a space c waterproof as above described.

2. lThe application' of a waterproof lining as shown at for t-he purpose of preventing persons sinking when in the water.

S. W. WHITE.

Witnesses lV. R. RITGHIE, G. M. HARRISON. 

